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This week, we’re all about sharing the love. If you missed it, check out our 10 Things Developers Love blog post. In the same vein, we believe in freely sharing expertise and developer-centric knowledge. As such, we’ve pulled together wisdom from across the web to enrich your week. Enjoy!

Love is in the air! With Valentine’s Day looming, many conversations about romantic getaways, fancy dinner outings and overindulging in chocolate can be overheard in the office. At Bitcasa, we want to show some love too. With our Valentine’s Day spirit sky high, we asked around our developer friends and put together a list of things developers love. Enjoy!

This week, we saw a number of publications break down the most effective ways to design mobile apps and APIs, highlighting simplicity as key to app/API adoption. Check out these, and a number of others articles we shared via the @Bitcasa twitter profile this week. Enjoy!

Our friends over at ProgrammableWeb noted that if you’re looking for wide adoption, less is more when it comes to designing an API.

A Medium contributor showed us how Facebook’s simple and intuitive API “taught us all how to build websites”.

The Economic Times discussed seven things mobile app developers should focus on. The key takeaways: focus on UI and – you guessed it – keep it simple.

WhaTech showed us that with some simple web development tricks, you can boost your brand engagement ratio. You don’t over complicate everything!

First Post identified the application security trends for 2015. Alleviating the risks in cloud storage and exploiting logical flaws were two of their top trends.

Our VP of Product Luke Behnke will be at DeveloperWeek in SF next week to discuss the Developer’s Dilemma. If you’ll be around, be sure to come by!

In other cloud news:

Dropbox has a new button that launches desktop applications right from the web.

Amazon announced that one million customers actively use its cloud services.

Got an idea for app? Need an excuse to develop it? We’re putting up $3,000 in prize money to help persuade you to turn that concept into reality.

Bitcasa and our friends at ChallengePost are hosting the DevCasa Challenge, which will run until March 24th.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to add cloud storage to a current app or create a new one by using Bitcasa CloudFS.

What is Bitcasa CloudFS? It’s our set of APIs that make it quick and easy to integrate secure, and accessible cloud storage with your application. But unlike those other cloud storage moguls, CloudFS give you control over the UX and user data. It’s your customers, your cloud, and your data.

You’ll need to create (or have created) a working software application that utilizes Bitcasa CloudFS via the free prototyping account. We’re judging your submissions based on the following criteria: quality, implementation, and depth of integration with our CloudFS APIs.

The competition is now open for submission and closes on March 24, 2015 so don’t miss out.

Developers are struggling to integrate cloud storage, and don’t want to deal with the cost and complexity required to build their own file systems in the public cloud. This week, we saw a number of publications reference the Developer’s Dilemma – a problem identified by Bitcasa in December 2014. Check out these articles and a number of others that were shared via the @Bitcasa twitter profile this week. Enjoy!

ProgrammableWeb examined the findings of our Developer’s Dilemma study and concluded that as more developers move to the cloud, they’ll become more familiar with Bitcasa.

The days of storing app data on a device are numbered, and the next generation of apps will require cloud storage to enhance data accessibility and application functionality. But our recent study titled “The Developer’s Dilemma”, showed that developers have been slow making this transition to the cloud and highlighted a number of barriers currently limiting cloud adoption.

The study identified a common dilemma developers face when deciding whether to utilize cloud storage: the choice between building your own file system on public cloud infrastructure, which is difficult and time consuming; or leveraging a third-party cloud storage API and surrendering users and user experience to the likes of Dropbox and Box.

Bitcasa’s vice president of product, Luke Behnke will be presenting a session on the findings of the Developer’s Dilemma study at DeveloperWeek 2015 on Tuesday, February 10 at 3:30pm Pacific.

The session, titled “The Developer’s Dilemma: Do-It-Yourself Storage or Surrender Your Data?” will explore developer priorities and preferences when it comes to app data storage and where the current limitations lie, as well as examining solutions that help to solve this problem such as Bitcasa’s CloudFS.

Luke will share developer anecdotes and examples of organizations that have successfully used Bitcasa CloudFS to quickly and easily integrate cloud storage, while maintaining control over user data and experience.

Bitcasa will also be sponsoring the DeveloperWeek hackathon (February 7-8) so developers will have an opportunity to test out Bitcasa’s CloudFS APIs first hand while building their innovative app.

This week we saw a myriad of developer-centric news circulating the web. Tips on how to become a successful software developer, top programming languages to learn in 2015, and free developer resources were all articles we shared via the @Bitcasa twitter profile this week. Here are some of our favorite articles. Enjoy!

We shared how SimpleECM, a simple content management system, wised up and dropped Box for Bitcasa. Say goodbye to surrendering user data and inconsistent user experience.

Lifehacker reviewed the top things you should know before starting a career in software developing. The key takeaways: Learn as much as you can on the job, and never back down from anything.

Mashable discussed the top 15 programming languages to know in 2015. With Jobs in the segment projected to grow 8% over the next seven years it might be a good idea to check this out.

With 2015 in full swing, the Web has been overwhelmed with predictions for the New Year. That, and images from everyone’s favorite Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The good news is that the outlook is positive for the cloud. We are in for another year of growth as more developers, device manufacturers, OEMs, service providers and ISVs look to the cloud to enhance customer loyalty, data accessibility, and simplify management of user data. We’ve compiled some of our favorite articles from the past week in the first of our weekly Cloud Chronicle series. Enjoy!

We shared the top four trends from CES that will have a significant impact on cloud adoption over the next year, which included the arrival of the Internet of Things, UltraHD TVs, drones, and smaller, mobile PCs.

TechRadar Pro predicted a proliferation of cloud use in verticals like healthcare and government, among other predictions for 2015.

SearchCloudStorage reported that 39 percent of companies plan to expand their cloud storage use in the next year.

AppDynamics published an infographic on characteristics of web developers, with information including the top cities for a tech job and the average annual salary sorted by coding language.

TechRadar Pro discussed imminent threats slated to appear in 2015 such as an increase in mobile devices targeted by hackers, and took a look back at major cyber security trends from 2014.

In other cloud news:

Box has set the terms for its IPO and CloudHarmony named Windows Azure as the least reliable public cloud vendor.

With another Consumer Electronics Show (CES) behind us, it’s time to reflect on some of the new devices in the market and trends we can expect to develop in 2015. Last week a handful of Bitcasa executives were onsite meeting with partners and observed a number of trends that will have a significant impact on cloud adoption over the next year.

1. The Internet of Things has become a reality: From connected cars, to home appliances and wearable devices, even light bulbs – pretty much every object with an electronic component is being connected to the internet, allowing consumers to control, analyze and enhance the function of these devices.

Our POV: The proliferation of mobile devices and connected things will dramatically increase the amount of data consumers generate. Many of these objects will interact with mobile applications, but the data being generated will need to live in the cloud to ensure it’s accessible and secure. On-device storage will no longer be an option – integrating seamless and secure cloud storage will become the norm.

2. 4K TV will increase demand for storage: The boundaries of television picture quality have been pushed, with the unveiling of the UltraHD TVs that have four times the resolution of current 1920 x 1080 high-definition televisions.

Our POV: As television resolution expands, the quality of digital content will follow suit leading to bigger files for video content. The average file size for a 1080 HD movie is 8-15 GB, this could increase to exceed 100 GB per movie with the emergence of UltraHD. The next generation of visual content applications rely of cloud technology to store the vast amount of UltraHD data. Downloading video files will become a thing of the past. Media transcoding and streaming functionality will emerge as an essential capability for cloud storage platforms.

3. Your friends are probably going to buy drones: Drones were a regular sight at the event and were demoed in a number of use cases. Not only are these becoming cheaper and more accessible, but they are increasingly being kitted out with cameras and other data generating features.

Our POV: Drones can store billions of images, packing exabytes of data, which will create fierce competition and an even greater demand to cloud-enable devices so that the content can be quickly and easily accessed and shared from other places.

4. Smaller, faster, more mobile computing: Perhaps the least exciting trend witnessed at CES – and something that has been observed at almost every CES event – is the continued evolution of computers. 2015 was no different with smaller, lightweight PCs designed for the 24/7-connected world.

Our POV: Device manufacturers have been reducing the size of devices for years, however premature efforts to replace hard drives with cloud apps and web services failed miserably. The maturity of cloud storage and it’s potential to work hand-in-hand with the hard drive has enabled smaller form factors. Additionally, device manufacturers and traditional storage OEMs are now looking to the cloud to differentiate their product offering and enhance customer loyalty. In 2015 and beyond, whoever owns the data will own the customer.

These are just a few of the many trends visible at CES 2015. But what’s clear is the balance of power is shifting and cloud storage is rapidly becoming the primary method for consumers and developers (assisting unknowing consumers) to store and manage data.

On Tuesday we announced the findings of The Developer’s Dilemma study, which highlighted a number of barriers that currently limit developer cloud storage adoption.
The survey of more than 230 developers in the United States confirmed our suspicions that developer’s face a significant dilemma when it comes to deciding whether utilize cloud storage.

What is the Developer’s Dilemma?

Either: build your own file system on public cloud infrastructure, which is difficult and time consuming; OR leverage a third-party cloud storage API (like Dropbox or Box) and surrender your users’ data and lose control of user experience.
Until now we had anecdotal evidence from developers that this was an issue – the fact that 15,000 developers have signed up to Bitcasa CloudFS also highlights the severity of the problem. But now we have evidence! Write it in the history books – the Developer’s Dilemma is as real and observable as the theory of relativity.
This also explains why developers have been so slow to adopt cloud storage. According to the survey, more than 50 percent of developers still store data on the device – despite increasing storage demands and growing competition for on-device storage from other apps.
With IDC predicting that the volume of digital content will grow by 10x to surpass 44 trillion GBs in 2020, cloud storage is quickly becoming essential for data-intensive apps. The next generation of apps depend on developers leveraging cloud storage solutions that solve the developer’s dilemma and make cloud storage simple and flexible.

Solving the Developer’s Dilemma

We developed Bitcasa CloudFS after hearing anecdotal feedback from developers and, to our knowledge, it’s the only solution in the market that effectively solves the Developer’s Dilemma. In contrast to other cloud storage APIs, CloudFS is the first service that allows developers to maintain full control over their user experience and data. The service offers developers pre-built file system functionality through a set of APIs that simplifies cloud storage integration.
Other interesting findings that the survey unearthed:

Two thirds of developers surveyed acknowledged the important role of storage in app design

83 percent of developers expect storage needs to increase over the next few year

Top 5 considerations when selecting a storage solution:

Security

Cost

File system functionality

Backup and versioning

Time to market

The Developer’s Dilemma survey, completed by more than 231 developers in the United States, was carried out by an independent research firm. For more information on CloudFS visit www.bitcasa.com.